


Kitsune & Tanuki

by CeNedraRiva



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Creature Fic, Demons, Gen, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Kitsune, M/M, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Other, Youkai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 06:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18632458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeNedraRiva/pseuds/CeNedraRiva
Summary: Naruto has had odd dreams since he was a little kid, dreams about strange adventures in places he's never been to and dreams about running through the forest like a wild beast, happy and free. After Mizuki reveals that Naruto is the vessel the Kyuubi was sealed into thirteen years ago, Naruto realises the dreams were memories - and Naruto was born a kitsune over a century before!For thirteen years he lived as a human, his youkai powers sealed away along with his memories. Now Naruto remembers everything except the events leading up to the night his uncle Kurama attacked the village, and he is determined to solve the mystery! And he could use the help of an old friend, one with tanuki eyes and an affinity for sand...





	Kitsune & Tanuki

Naruto Uzumaki was seven years old, and he had been having strange dreams. Fantastic dreams where he was as tall as the trees and could run so fast it felt like flying. Dreams where he had tails and claws and teeth, and thick warm fur. Dreams where he could see the chakra in everything, the trees, the earth, the animals, all vibrant and alive.

He told the Hokage about the dreams the next time he was able to sneak into his office. The Hokage got a weird look on his face, but he smiled and said the dreams sounded exciting. Naruto laughed, and told him more.

A few weeks later, the Hokage visited him at the orphanage. Naruto was so excited, he dragged the man everywhere, showing him which one was his bed, the play area, his favourite toys. The other children and the matrons were staring, but Naruto didn’t mind. He knew they were just jealous because he was friends with the Hokage and they weren’t.

That day, the Hokage told him that he had been speaking with the matrons, and they all agreed – Naruto was all grown up now! He was beginning his ninja classes, and soon he’d be a full genin and start going on missions! So that meant he got to have his own house, just like any other grown-up!

Naruto was so excited and proud of himself! He was a man now!

He did think it was a little weird that the matrons thought so too. They weren’t very friendly to him. Most of the time, they liked to yell at him or give him funny looks. But maybe they weren’t being mean on purpose. After all, they did think Naruto was mature enough to live on his own now, and mean people didn’t do things to help people they hated.

The first night, Naruto cried. Living alone was scary.

All the shadows on the walls looked weird, and there were strange noises from the street below. The matrons weren’t there to cook dinner or say it was bedtime. There was no one else sharing his bedroom.

It was too quiet. It was too lonely.

He tried to find the Hokage again the next morning, but he couldn’t. What would he even say, anyway? He was a man now, he had to look after himself. Grown-ups weren’t scared of the dark or being alone.

* * *

 

Naruto Uzumaki was ten years old, and he was failing school. He was trying – really, he was! – but sometimes his teachers were just so boring! And the textbooks had too many words in them, it just put his brain to sleep! And they were always sitting still in class, why didn’t they do more actual ninja skill training? Sometimes he would have a thought, and only realise he’d yelled it in class when the teachers glared at him.

He knew all the hand seals. Naruto had made sure to practice them for hours and hours after class, even doing extra stuff like practicing hand seals while running or while hanging from a tree or while upside down. He knew he could get them right.

But he could never make the stupid leaf stick to his forehead. Trying to sit still for so long and meditate never worked, all he could focus on was a random itch on his nose, or an annoying bird singing, or grass prickling his legs, or a song in his head, or he would get an idea for a new prank – it just never worked.

What was he meant to be feeling for anyway? What did chakra feel like? He knew he had chakra – once he’d set a leaf on fire by accident trying to make it stick – but what did it feel like moving through your body? How could he control it if he didn’t even know what it was meant to feel like?

The teachers didn’t like him. Naruto was certain of that.

Iruka-sensei was kind of okay, though. He didn’t mind giving Naruto extra pointers for throwing kunai or shuriken when none of Naruto’s throws ever hit, and he grinned so big when Naruto got one to stick to the target.

Naruto’s apartment was always lonely. He wasn’t scared to sleep there anymore, but he never hung out there during the day. No one ever came to visit. Naruto liked hanging out where all the people were, instead. Like Ichiraku’s! That place was always busy, probably because their food was awesome! And there were always people around the training grounds, though a lot of them would tell him to get lost if he was hanging out too close.

He still had odd dreams sometimes, ones about running through the forests, the earth flying beneath his paws. A shadow would run alongside him, a wild beast, and they would chase each other and snap their teeth playfully and tumble through the undergrowth.

There were other dreams too, ones where he was with his best friend and they were laughing together and drinking sake. It was a boy Naruto had never met before, with plain looks and dark marks around his eyes so he looked like a tanuki, but Naruto knew they had been friends forever. Sometimes they’d go on adventures together, tricking mean old men into giving their money away, or helping people fight off bandits, like heroes.

Sometimes there was a girl. She was tall and blond and pretty, and she looked so much like Naruto did that he knew she had to be his sister or his mum or something. She was probably a super awesome ninja who used her pretty looks to make perverts fall for her, then stole all their wallets.

Hokage-Jiisan said that no one knew who Naruto’s parents were, but he knew Naruto didn’t have a sister. Secretly, he liked to think she was out there, though. Maybe she was looking for him. Maybe one day they would find each other, and they could be a family.

* * *

 Naruto Uzumaki was thirteen years old, and he had just failed the genin exam.

No matter that he had tried and tried, no matter that he had actually managed to pass the written bit of the test, no matter that he could throw kunai and hit a target now, no matter that he could use henge to disguise himself, no matter that he had invented a whole new jutsu that was super effective against perverts. He just couldn’t get clones to work, and so he was a failed shinobi.

It was like the leaf exercise all over again. Either there was too much chakra and the whole thing exploded, or there was too little and the clone looked like a horror show.

So when Mizuki told him about a secret way to graduate, Naruto was all ears. Sneaking into a building to steal a thing, that was something he knew how to do! All his years of pranking, sneaking into places and stuff, suddenly it was useful! And a scroll of super powerful jutsus with simple instructions – it was perfect! If there was one thing Naruto was great at, it was doing the same thing over and over until he got it right!

And he did! He got it right! He got the Shadow Clone Jutsu to work!

It was perfect! The clones didn’t blow up from having too much chakra, and they were solid too, so they were even _better_ than a regular clone! And now he’d get to graduate and get a headband and join a genin team and be a real shinobi!

But then, it all went wrong.

* * *

Naruto lay in bed that night, running his fingers over the headband Iruka-sensei had gifted him. It wasn’t smooth and new like the ones that his classmates had been given. Small scratches, little nicks and dents all covered the metal, evidence of all the battles Iruka-sensei had been through and won. It was a precious gift.

Naruto giggled. He felt like there was a star exploding in his chest, shining light filling him all up with warmth. Iruka-sensei liked him, was proud of him! He hugged the headband close.

His laughter faded, the star winking out to nothing, his eyes watering.

It was really all true, wasn’t it? He…he was the demon. The Kyuubi. Or the container for the Kyuubi, at least. It made everything make sense. The way everyone treated him, the glares and the insults. The…the hate. So why did it feel like a lie? Mizuki hadn't been lying, he was far too happy when he talked about Naruto being a demon. But it just didn't seem to fit, somehow. Like there was something Mizuki had missed that Naruto knew. 

Naruto traced the whisker marks across his cheeks. They felt slightly different than regular skin. Birthmarks, Hokage-jiisan called them. Naruto had always liked them, the way they made him look like a fox. They fit his personality somehow. But really, they were the mark of a demon, the demon who destroyed the village and killed the Yondaime. 

Iruka-sensei knew all that. He knew, and he still smiled and said he was proud and took Naruto to get ramen. Iruka-sensei knew everything, and liked him anyway.

The star was back, blinking brighter.

How could he feel so happy and so upset at the same time? Any second now he was gonna start ugly crying again, and this time Iruka-sensei wasn’t gonna be close by to give him a hug. His head hurt.

Naruto blinked, _and he was staring up at his uncle who towered above the trees, orange fur bright and always warm, a giant fox’s face, paws larger than houses and Naruto barely came up past his shin, “What’s wrong, kit?”, still just a kit with only one tail, not big and strong yet like his uncle—_

Naruto blinked, and he was lying in bed.

What?

He sat up.

A giant fox, the Kyuubi? That had been a dream, right? There was no way—

Naruto hissed, his head throbbing as a hundred different imaginary things ran across his thoughts, kitsune sprinting through a forest, and they were being chased from a Kiri village—no, drinking sake by the ocean! A tanuki shaped like a plain human boy, and they were crossing a desert—a giant turtle demon? A ningen that was really a cat youkai. Naruto in his Sexy Jutsu form dressed in a fancy kimono to sneak into a fortress to steal a mystical hair comb—or was he sneaking a hime out of a fortress to meet her lover? Both? Laughing with his best friend but their face was too blurry. Hiding his chakra from passing Leaf Nin. Battlefields full of dead shinobi—

After a while, the flood subsided, the pain fading. Naruto slumped back down, staring at the ceiling. It couldn’t be true, could it? Maybe he’d just gone mad. Kurama couldn’t be his uncle, he was human—

But how would he know a kitsune’s name otherwise? They didn’t even share their true names with their friends, let alone random human orphans—

But if he was going mad, it could just be a made-up name, right? This could all be just in his head. Dreams and fantasies, or maybe it was the Kyuubi trying to trick him! But Kurama wouldn't do that, Naruto was his favourite, he'd never be so cruel.

A true fox would see through the deception. Naruto had never been good at that, he was better at planning a trick than avoiding one. Why this trick, though? What would Kurama gain by Naruto thinking they were family, his loyalty? 

It didn't feel like a deception. Memories were settling into place, not just of Kurama but of the founding of Konoha and the many ninja wars. Kushina Uzumaki and Minato, the Yondaime. Iruka as a teenager, the Sannin. Naruto couldn't have invented all of it.

Naruto was born thirteen years ago during the Kyuubi’s attack on Konoha.

Naruto was born 157 years ago, and his uncle Kurama was the lord of all the kitsune clans.

Somehow, they were both true. 


End file.
